It's been a while! I hope you're doin' well and alright. As for me, there are exciting changes coming down the pipeline, but for now - I give you my second Watson Bra, made with materials from the lovely TailorMadeShoppe:

Y'all, it's happened. This is one of those projects that seemed like a dream, far-off and unattainable, beyond the reach of my nervous little fingers. But behold!

I have actually made a bra!! And by the time this post goes live, there will likely be more in the works!! So excited!! More exclamation points!!!

Seriously, it feels like the most of the internet sewing community have not only tackled the task of bra and lingerie making in the last few years, but perfected it. And as is my custom with being perfectly on trend, current, and hip (insert laughter here) I have finally summoned up the courage decided to give bra-making a go.

I chose the Watson Bra to start off with for several reasons: First, there are soooo many pretty and inspiring versions around the internet. A quick Google search will pull up hundreds of images. Second, it's designed for beginner bra makers who want to be up to the task but need somewhere simple to start. Cloth Habit, the blog/designer behind the pattern, has an amazingly helpful step-by-step tutorial here. Third, there are no underwires so it's relatively quick and painless to sew.

The test version I made was definitely too big. I followed the sizing chart included in the pattern, but that's why we make a test version, amirite? The band was too loose and the cups were too big, so that the bra basically rode up to my chin throughout the course of the day. So for the second (and fingers-crossed wearable) version, I went down two sizes and was extremely careful in sewing my seam allowances. And it turned out beautifully! The fit is comfortable yet secure, and I absolutely adore the fabric. There are a number of Etsy shops that sell "bra kits" - all the findings and fabric you need to make a bra. I bought this kit from TailorMadeShoppe, since I absolutely was not about to go finding all these.....ahem......findings myself. Not for the first real bra, people. No way.

Bonus points because I know that this bra was ethically made (I promise I gave myself lots of breaks whilst making it, and plenty of encouragement in the form of tea and dark chocolate) and fits me perfectly. It's difficult to find ethically sourced fabric, especially bra and lingerie materials, but I figure at least making it myself is better than buying one that was questionably made.

Overall, I'm so happy with how this turned out and cannot wait to start on the next one. Hope you all have a great week, friends!

Hey friends!
I hope you are having a lovely Saturday thus far. It's a rainy, blah-ish day here in Chicago. You know, one of those days that's a perfect excuse to stay inside all day and work on sewing projects? Yeah, well unfortunately, that's not in my future. Some good friends are moving today, and I promised to help out. Helping friends friends move in the rain - that's true love, folks.

Anyway, before I force myself to function for the day, I wanted to share a finished project with you all. And guess what?? It's another McCall's 5845 hack! The first one was the silk taffeta bridesmaid's dress I blogged about here. This one was the eh-I-have-time-so-why-not version.

Remember how I said there have been weddings on weddings on weddings this summer? I wore this to one or two of them, plus a few fancy events.

I think this is one of my favorite garments I've ever made. The fabric is a ponte knit that I've had in my stash for a while, so there is enough give to make it comfortable while still maintaining it's structure. Bonus: The teal heels I'm wearing have been in my closet for years, and matched the colors in the fabric perfectly!! It was meant to be, ya'll. Extra bonus: The earrings I'm wearing are my go-to pair from Mata Traders. They're a sustainable fashion company based here in Chicago. They employ women in India and Bangladesh and provide the ladies with a fair, living wage so they can support their families. Mata has some beautiful items, check them out!

The bodice of the dress is another hacked version of McCall's 5845. I lowered the neckline 1 1/2 inches and scooped the back. The skirt is a self-drafted half circle skirt. There are tons of great tutorials out there, just give it a Google and you're sure to find one.

Construction was pretty standard, I bagged the bodice using the same tutorial from Neeno (that tutorial is linked in this post) and attached the skirt. I'm very proud of how straight that waist seam line is! It's the victory in the little things.

All in all, very happy with this one and looking forward to years of use out of it. May you enjoy your clothes and find something silly to laugh about today.

Hey friends!
Happy Saturday! I love this time of year. The sun, the heat, the beach - August is when things get good and hot here in Chicago. People are happy and nice because there's sunshine (no polar vortex or snowpocalpse can keep us down!), and there's so many free things to do! Movies in the park, dancing in the parks, street festivals - Chicago is a great place to be in the summer (*end of shameless plug*).

You what else there is to do? Weddings. So. Many. Weddings. For three months this year, I was either in a wedding or attending some wedding-bridal-bachelorette festivity every weekend. I'm really happy for all my friends and family who've gotten hitched this year, but sometimes a girl needs a weekend of Netflix, sweatpants, and ice cream, ya know? My couch and my cat felt sadly neglected.

But one of the nice things about weddings upon weddings upon weddings is that I got to make a lovely dress which was first used as a bridesmaid's dress (been one of those 7 times now, *self-five*) and then re-worn to a friend's wedding two weeks later.

This was my first time working with silk taffeta. I was more than slightly terrified to cut into it (and put it through the wash when I wasn't supposed to, oops) but all in all I think it turned out pretty well. The fabric is from Mood, and was a beautiful, rich navy blue. I love the descriptions and pictures on that website. So far, everything I've bought from them has been true to what I read about it online. Yay for consistency!

The pattern is a super-hacked version of McCall's M5845. I lowered the front neckline by 1 1/2 inches and changed the back to a low scoop. I was originally going to draft a box pleat skirt pattern a la Zooey Deschanel from New Girl to copy this dress:

But in the end, I ran out of time and went with a simple gathered skirt. I think it was for the best, as the silk taffeta shows a lot of wrinkles, which are less obvious in a gathered skirt where intentional wrinkles are kind of the point.

Please excuse that invisible zipper insertion. I have since figured out how to *actually* do it right. Who knew that when tutorials tell you to sew as close as possible to the zipper, they literally mean in that little groove right along the zipper teeth. I know.....just give me a break ok?

I lined the bodice using this tutorial from Neeno over at SewMeLove. The idea to hack the M5845 was also inspired from her many hacks of that pattern. What, imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?? The cut fits my shoulders well, also I need to tweak the pattern a bit across the upper bust.

I also inserted pockets into the skirt pattern. The fabric is made from an Indonesian batik print that my mom got for me as a present. Woo-hoo! I love the small pop of color.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this project turned out. I'm looking forward to re-wearing this one throughout the years, as it's fairly classic and not likely go out of style soon. Enjoy the rest of your beautiful Saturday, friends!

Hello all!
I haven't been able to do much sewing in the past month or so, due to the vast mounds of books and schoolwork that overtook my sewing table. But now it is that magical time of year - spring break! And with it comes a little more time to sew. And with that, I give you my latest project:

I found this shirt as a men's XL dress shirt, living a lonely life at my local thrift store. I decided to take it home and give it a home. It was my first refashion and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I cut off the collar, shortened the sleeves, cut two inches off the bottom, and took in several inches along the sides. I accidentally deleted the photo of the original shirt (whoops!) but if you take a look at my Instagram feed, you can see it there.

There is a personal story behind the green bias tape that I used to finish the raw edges. I found it in my grandma's sewing stash, which was given to me after she passed away several years ago. I haven't dug through it too much, but I'm really glad I decided to take a look.

I'm hoping to get more posts up soon, but until then, have a wonderful day!

Hey there!
I wanted to share a quick project that I did this week. My step sister-in-law is having a baby, and she's due in April. Yes, that is my stepmother's son's wife. Families can get so complicated. Anyways, since I've been on a slight sewing withdrawal due to excessive amounts of work and snow, I decided to share this project that took me all of an hour from start to finish.

I found tutorials on Pinterest for two different kinds of baby blankets. One is for 3 minute receiving blankets, and while it wasn't quite 3 minutes on each blanket, it wasn't much more. I don't have a serger, so I just used the fake serge stitch on my sewing machine, which I think worked just as well. I will definitely be making more of these in the future. What's that, you say? You're having a baby?? I have just the thing to make for you.....

The second tutorial was a little more labor intensive, but still took about 30 minutes. And it was so soft I kinda wanted to keep it. But since April in the Midwest is hardly ever warm, I think the new little one will need it more than me ;-). The tutorial was easy to follow and the blanket turned out great.

I can't wait to mail these out! I hope that you're staying warm and enjoying what little is left of the winter. Can't wait for spring!

The Anna Dress by By Hand London.
An internet classic. The pattern came out just around the time I started sewing. It felt like I couldn't turn around without seeing another version, a hacked version, etc. I've been wanting to try it for myself for a while now, and finally had a reason to give it a go.

A recent school project asked for us to address an issue of social justice with a creative project. I chose to make a dress out of organic, fair-trade fabric, and decided that the long-awaited Anna dress was the perfect pattern to use. Let me just say, it is extremely difficult to find certified fair-trade fabric, even on the internet. I finally settled on a navy blue cotton from Organic Cotton Plus. They are a family owned business that sources their chemical-free cotton from a farm in Texas. I will definitely be using them again, as the service was great and the fabric has held up beautifully.

Back to the dress! Really, what else can be said about the Anna? She's beautiful, easy and quick to sew, and just looks so feminine. I chose to do the floor length version because I don't have too many long dresses and they make me feel super elegant. And that slit soooo says I'm-Angelina-Jolie-at-the-oscars-sexy.

I added pockets to mine, since I absolutely love having pockets in everything I own. I can finally say I understand what all the fuss is about and am totally on board with By Hand London's designs. I can't wait to try the knee length version in the future.

Bonus: My friend who took the pictures has a cat named Lucy. Isn't she adorable??

As I go along this journey towards embracing my inner creative, I've been thinking about how I used to interact with inspiration. Inspiration to me was like a robber - it came up from behind, hit me over the head, then ran away to possibly return at some random, unknown time. Not a very positive relationship.
Lately, thanks to posts and videos from other creative people I admire (this post from The Fresh Exchange, this video from Kayley Melissa, and this TED talk from Elizabeth Gilbert have really helped illuminate this concept for me) my relationship with inspiration has been changing. I'm learning it's something I can cultivate. Instead of thinking, "Whelp, that one thing that inspired me for a while but now it doesn't, so I guess I'm not creative anymore," (seriously self??), I'm learning to keep looking for inspiration. I'm learning to cultivate sources of inspiration (blogs, Instagram, photos, Pinterest, etc) so that they keep giving me inspiration.

This creative life is not a stale one. It's full of nuances, ebbs, and flows. I can do something about being inspired. I don't have to wait for it to decide it likes me again. Like any relationship, I can put in the time and effort and get great rewards out of it.

My challenge is to keep being inspired. To not give up because the ideas are dry or the things that inspire me are changing. Move with the changes and find new, delightful ways of being inspired. Then instead of being a robber, inspiration will be more like a good friend.

Happy Thursday!! I personally can't wait for this week to be over, can you? The first full work week after the holidays is so rough. I mean, how can they expect you to work 5 days in a row?? And here in the Midwest, it's been extremely cold. Like, hurt-your-face-when-you-walk-outside, dear-god-why-did-I-walk-outside, kind of cold. Which leads me to think about warmer days and sunnier times, like this wedding I was in this summer:

A dear friend of mine got married in August, and the only guidelines she gave her bridesmaid's for their dresses were the color and length. Otherwise, we were free to choose whatever we wanted. I, of course, got really excited about the ability to make my own dress and started dreaming. For the bodice, I used Simplicity 1497, I used chiffon for the first time (which was a project unto itself), added pockets using this tutorial from Burdastyle, and drafted my own pattern for the skirt and sleeves.

This was the biggest project I have attempted so far, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. So while it is snowing sideways outside, I will sit inside, sip my tea under a blanket, and remember happy, sunny times.

So remember that fabric I bought a few weeks ago? It has now officially become a shirt - actually, more like three shirts. The pattern is a sketch I made after laying several shirts on the floor on top of each other and haphazardly tracing. I'm trying to incorporate more color into my wardrobe, as I looked in my closet the other day only to realize that I could really only wear some variation on the color gray. Although all three shirts were made from the same pattern, the different colors and textures lends a unique feel to each shirt, in my opinion. I love their loose, slightly unstructured feel. Until next time, be well!